The full importance of the position of this celebrated earthwork, to obtain possession of which cost the French so much labour and blood, was not fully appreciated until the Russians seized the hill in the early spring, and established themselves strongly in it. It has indeed been stated that Colonel Gordon from the first saw the advantages which its occupation would confer on either side, and that he drew the attention of the Allied commanders to this point; but the plan of our works of offence at that time did not admit of the extension which would have been necessary in order" to bring it within their limits.
Long protected by its own artillery fire, and by that of the works in its rear and on its flanks, as well as by the obstinate resolution of the defenders of the rifle-pits, the Mamelon was at length however, after a severe cannonade of more than twenty-four hours' duration, carried by assault on the 7th of June last by the French, who immediately turned and armed the work, which now became in fact an advanced battery against the Malakoff, from which it was only about 500 yards distant.
Colonel Hamley visited it in the beginning of August, and describes the interior in a passage which forms an admirable conamentary on this sketch.
"A broad road," he says, "passed over the rampart of the former work, (the Mamelon), where the guns had once looked on theFrench lines, while what had been its gorge or rear when the enemy held it, was now a formidable battery, as yet unmasked, but completed, armed, and ready to open on its old ally the Round Tower. The interior was
98 CAMPATGN IN THE CRIMEA,
still in a state of great confusion; Russian guns were lying dismounted and half-buried, platforms shattered, gun-carriages with their trucks in the air, and the numerous traverses which the Russians had thrown up for protection from our shells were pounded and blown by explosions into shapeless heaps, making the interior of the redoubt look like a newlyopened quarry. From one of its angles a path led to the advanced trenches and batteries, the latter beautifully finished and revetted with fascines, the guns already in them, and nothing wanting but the removal of the screen of earth still hiding the embrasures to enable them to open."
BATTLE OF THE TCHERNAYA, 16th August, 1855.
The details of this great action, so glorious for the French and Sardinian arms, have been already given in the introductory portion of this work; but a brief recapitulation of its leading events may not be out of place here, to enable the reader more fully to appreciate the merit of the very spirited and accurate drawing with which Mr. Simpson has commemorated the crowning moment of the struggle.
At day-break on the morning of the 16th August the Russians, whose unconcealed preparations for several days past had announced their intention of making an attack, debouched from the heights on the opposite side of the Tchernaya, by the Mackenzie Road, which, descending into the plain, crosses the river by the Bridge of Traktir, where the French had constructed a strong tete-de-pont. The Russian force consisted of from 50,000 to 60,000 men, with 160 pieces of artillery, and cavalry to the amount of 6000 — an imposing force, destined to carry the Fediouchine heights, a low range of hills which overlook the river, and bisect the great vaUey of Balaklava. These heights were occupied on the left and centre by the French, and on the right by the Sardinians, who had thrown up some redoubts on a hill across the river. This outpost was attacked and carried, after a very gallant defence, at the commencement of the battle by the Russians, who then concentrated the whole energy of their attack on the ground occupied by the French. Thrice they succeeded in crossing the river, forcing the bridge, and even crowning the heights, but only in each instance to be driven back again with immense loss. The third repulse was final, and at 8 a.m. the Russians retreated in confusion, followed as far as the river by the bayonets of the enthusiastic victors. The
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]